Another week, another upheaval in pensions, only this time it’s the state pension intended to be the bedrock of everyone’s retirement.

On Wednesday a new single-tier pension replaced the Basic State Pension and additional schemes like the Second State Pension and Pension Benefit.

It was much vaunted by the chancellor, when first announced two years ago, as offering a £144 flat rate for all.

The good news is that the actual rate starts at £155.65, compared with the basic state pension of £119.30.

But the bad news is that only around a third of those soon to retire will get the full amount, due to a complex offsetting of benefits earned under the old system.

Further, as many as 11 million twenty- and thirty-somethings could eventually be worse off to the tune of an average £19,000 over their retirement.

It may seem a long way off, but younger workers are constantly being told of the need to save as much as possible as early as possible, and the new state pension underlines why.

The government sees a silver lining in its other big pension reforms. Research from Aegon UK claimed this week that 15per cent of the working population, or 6.2million people, are saving more into their pension as a direct result of the pension freedoms introduced a year ago, enabling over-55s to cash in or draw down personal pensions.

Auto-enrolment into a pension at work, meanwhile, is supposed to be encouraging more lower-income workers to save, while next year sees the arrival of the Lifetime Isa as an alternative – or perhaps a rival – long-term savings option.

The years of national insurance contributions or credits needed to qualify for the full state pension will rise from 30 to 35 years under the new system, with anyone showing less than 10 years on their NI record not getting any pension at all.

Maike Currie, investment director at Fidelity International, says: “The self-employed are the big winners – they could see their pensions rise from around £6,000 a year to £8,000 a year. While this might not sound much, to secure the equivalent income of £2,000 a year, rising with inflation would cost you around £65,000 if you’re buying a guaranteed annuity at age 65.”

The changes are said by the government to represent a huge boost for women by addressing gender inequality in the current system, bringing forward by over a decade the point when men and women will achieve equal payments.

But this has been undone by separate changes to the women’s state pension age, which is rising from nearly 63 now to 65 by 2018.

This means only 80,000 women will receive the new flat-rate state pension from 2016 to 2018, compared with 390,000 men, according to figures by the Department for Work and Pensions.

According to the Pensions Policy Institute, three-quarters of people in their twenties would lose an average of £19,000 over the course of their retirement, as a result of moving to the new system.

The difference is due to the additional savings built up by older workers under the old State Second Pension (S2P). Younger workers will not qualify for this despite paying NI contributions.

Older workers keep the entitlement they have built up under the S2P, but for everyone in bigger pension schemes who was ‘contracted out’ of the S2P, a deduction will be made from the new pension for every year you were contracted out.

That’s because contracted-out workers had the benefit of a national insurance rebate – last year it amounted to 1.6per cent of salary. Pension companies encouraged contracted-out workers to pay the rebate into a personal pension and the government assumes that this will compensate for any deductions made.

What can you do to improve the state pension?

For those in retirement, if you can afford to, there is a chance to plug gaps in your NI record, and so give your state pension a boost. Men over the age of 65 and women over the age of 63, can top up their state pension to a maximum of £1,300 a year or £25 extra a week, in return for a one-off payment. The offer is open to anyone who reaches state pension age today and will remain open for qualifying people until April 2017.

Ms Currie says: “This is a valuable option. A man aged 65 today would need a fund of around £25,000 to provide a level annual annuity of £1,300 a year – and a fund of around £43,000 to provide £1,300 a year increasing in line with inflation up to a max of five per cent."

However, the ability to defer your pension is now less valuable, adding only £9 a week for each year deferred instead of the £16 when the system was first introduced, and there is now no lump sum option.

Once your starting pension is established it will rise under the ‘triple lock’ inflation measure. For those in work, each year of NI contributions will now add £4.44 a week to your eventual state pension up to the maximum flat rate.

The self-employed can build up their rights through Class 2 NI contributions of £2.80 a week, though the system will change in two years time to eligibility based on minimum profits.